


they say knowledge is power; (but i'm feeling pretty weak)

by explaininfinity



Category: BLACKPINK (Band), LOONA (Korea Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: F/F, also happy 7YearsWithChaelisa day!, happy 7YearsWithRosé day!, hope y'all enjoy this took me forEVER
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 07:35:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18734521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/explaininfinity/pseuds/explaininfinity
Summary: in which park chaeyoung is a very shy art teacher, lisa manoban is an incredibly loud dance teacher and they're pretty much enemiesaka the chaelisa enemies-to-lovers! / teachers!au





	they say knowledge is power; (but i'm feeling pretty weak)

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact i learned after doing way too much research into korean art colleges: hamlin multi art school (aka where yerim barely attended but still graduated from, the talentry) actually has an entire department of its school devoted to just modeling, which you can presumably get a degree in
> 
> wild

 

 

_creak._

 

"what the heck?"

 

_bang._

 

"lisa manoban!"

 

a groan of frustration left park chaeyoung as she gazed down at her easel which lay in parts of the floor, the screws connecting it obviously pre-loosened. her class of students grinned, extremely used to the pranks that were often played on miss park by this point. you'd think that at one of the most prestigious arts universities in seoul the teachers would have a bit more professionalism, but you'd be sorely mistaken.

 

well, actually, _most_ of the teachers _were_ professional. other than lisa, that is.

 

ms. manoban, or lisa as she prefers to be called, is easily the noisiest teacher at the college, with a loud voice, an even louder personality and a habit of constantly pulling pranks (mostly on the head of the fine arts department, park chaeyoung). if it wasn't for her insane dancing skills and a knack for working with kids, she probably would have been fired long ago. unfortunately for park chaeyoung, occasionally the other teachers and sometimes even the rest of the student body, lisa happens to be a remarkably good dancer, and as such, they have to deal with her antics.

 

like today, when instead of working on the choreography for her afternoon session like she definitely should have been, she spent her prep period unscrewing park chaeyoung's favorite easel.

 

park chaeyoung is the epitome of exactly what you'd expect an art professor to be: calm, kind and incredibly creative. she's adored by all of her students, not only because she's ridiculously understanding but also because she's probably the easiest grader on the face of the planet. her students are perpetually fascinated by her though, as she rarely shares anything about herself. pretty much all they know is that she's from australia, had a pet fish back home and an older sister who teaches at a law school.  oddly enough, she's also incredibly shy about her own work, rarely ever creating things herself and never playing the guitar in her room, although she carries it around constantly. overall, miss park is quiet and patient, gentle and sweet and everything you could possibly want in a proper university educator.

 

lisa manoban, on the other hand, is really _really **loud**_. she too is adored by her students but because of her crazy antics, her explosive personality and her habit of showing off. rare is the moment when she's not either yelling or dancing, _actually_ , often doing both at the same time. her students love hearing stories of her life in thailand and how she had become a successful dancer in korea and eventually a teacher. despite her easy-going personality, she's definitely on the stricter side when actually in class, where she expects a lot of her students. but she's always proud of them, and there to help if they need it.

 

because of this, the entirety of the student body decided that if mortal enemies existed, lisa and chaeyoung were it. they were complete opposites and constantly bickering because of it, harassing each other at every assembly or meeting that had ever occurred in their careers (well, more so lisa bothered chaeyoung until she got in trouble). even when lisa wasn't teaching, and sometimes when she was (because she had a habit of taking her classes on "field trips" across campus) she was perpetually messing with chaeyoung and took practically every chance she could to pull pranks on the fine arts department of the university.

 

no one knew why lisa had chosen chaeyoung as her perpetual personal target. no other teacher was willing to divulge their history, although it was largely agreed upon that they had _always_ been at each other's necks because they had joined the staff at around the same time. no one had ever seen chaeyoung retaliate in response to lisa, besides some vague complaints. in fact, other than during official university functions, no one had even the two of them together, despite the fact that most of the university's staff were friends with each other, often spotted visiting each other's classrooms. this was especially strange given that is was common knowledge that chaeyoung was best friends with jennie kim, the head of the fashion department and that lisa was best friends with jennie's wife, jisoo, head professor of the drama department. somehow, even though jennie and jisoo, jennie and chaeyoung, and jisoo and lisa were perpetually attached, lisa and chaeyoung were never seen together. and no one knew why.

 

no one knew why lisa had chosen chaeyoung.

 

but everyone knew that she had, for whatever reason.

 

that was why chaeyoung's class wasn't surprised when chaeyoung's easel collapsed, as the same thing had happened several times that semester already. chaeyoung just sighed, muttering under her breath and walking back to her desk to grab the screwdriver she kept there for this exact situation. as she screwed the pieces back together for the umpteenth in her career, she decided she was _done_ . she was _done_ being pranked, she was _done_ with the school's property being broken. just before her class was about to end, a dangerous glint shone in chaeyoung's eyes as she set up her easel again. she walked to the front of the classroom as she often did before giving them their assignment and dismissing her class.

 

"your assignment for next class is to design a piece of graffiti that you'd like to see on the mirrors of the dance department. it must obey the university's code of conduct."

 

at this, her entire class stared up at her with confused, glazed eyes. weren't they in the middle of an impressionist unit? and weren't they supposed to be using oil pastels? they looked up at their soft-spoken teacher who at the moment was adorned with an uncharacteristic smirk across her face.

 

"also, wear clothes appropriate for spray-painting," she finished, walking back towards her office, leaving a room of shocked students in her wake.

 

**[ - ]**

  


"what the actual fuck?" lisa manoban yelled as she pointed the camera of her phone at dozens of fresh pieces of graffiti covering the mirrors of her dance studio. kim jisoo, (who had the occasional joy but more often misfortune of being lisa's best friend) was met with a giant cartoon of a paint can and various other mainly art-related decals preventing her from seeing lisa's reflection. when the camera showed an image of a broken easel over a large section of the mirrors, jisoo broke into laughter, earning her a glare from lisa.

 

"well, i don't want to say you deserved it but you _definitely_ deserved it," jisoo shrugged nonchalantly as she skimmed through another audition tape because _some_ teachers actually take their jobs seriously.

 

"i facetime you for comfort and all you do is make fun of me," lisa moped, switching the camera's focus back onto herself.

 

"have you told seulgi yet?" jisoo asked, completely ignoring lisa's pouting, causing her to pout further at the shift of attention to the other owner of their joint studio.

 

"no, she's at that showcase in shanghai with the junior class for the rest of the week," lisa muttered offhandedly as she set her phone down and continued scowling at the mirrors, trying to gauge how long it would take to scrub the paint off of them. despite her vast knowledge of dance techniques and of fast food restaurant phone numbers, she had absolutely no idea what to do about paint on mirrors.

 

at lisa's comment, jisoo's head swiveled from the screen she was supposed to be watching.

 

(okay, maybe didn't take her job _completely_ seriously, but at least she took it more seriously than lisa, although, that wouldn't be saying much)

 

"the one that joohyun also went to with that super flimsy excuse?" she asked, the curiosity obvious in her tone and posture, as she leaned towards the camera, showing a genuine interest for the first time in their conversation.

 

"yeah? so what?" lisa dismissed, her attention still clearly only focused on the mirrors of her precious studio.

 

"i- , lisa, you're probably the densest person i've ever met," jisoo sighed, as lisa finally turned back to the phone she had set on a table while searching the walls.

 

"rude! why do i even bother talking to you?" lisa muttered at the phone as she walked back to it.

 

"you called me, buddy, not the other way around," jisoo scoffed, focusing on her computer and consequently her grading, making lisa pout.

 

"see, this is why i usually go to jennie for these kinds of things," lisa tried as jisoo laughed.

 

"why, it's not like she's going to be nicer to you," jisoo managed through giggles.

 

"i guess," lisa muttered before stopping, tilting her head and considering. "actually, yeah," she decided after a pause, earning further laughter from jisoo. "you know jisoo, your wife's kinda mean."

 

"i know," jisoo sighed, smiling fondly. "also speaking of wives, i've gotta go, her morning session is finishing soon and she wants to go get lunch," jisoo added, making lisa groan and fake a gag.

 

"gross, you guys are so domestic," she complained, finishing a rather impressive rendition of vomiting.

 

"lisa, you realize that jennie and i literally married," jisoo responded without looking, in a monotone voice, very used to lisa's antics.

 

"yes, i know, i was there, i was your best man. geez, this is why i should talk to yerim and sooyoung more," lisa mused, resulting in even more laughter from the other side of the phone.

 

"you'd go to tom and jerry for _advice_?" jisoo practically yelled, incredulously.

 

"good point," lisa muttered as jisoo stood up from her desk.

 

"okay giraffe, i'm leaving now, maybe try scrubbing at the paint?" jisoo mused as she grabbed her coat from a rack in her room, setting down her phone to put it on.

 

"helpful," lisa monotoned in return.

 

"i try. have fun and make good choices!" jisoo hollered to the phone as she pushed an arm through the sleeve of her jacket.

 

"i won't."

 

the facetime ended and lisa slid her phone back into her pocket as she walked back up to the mirrors, scowling again. of the four walls in the room, only two were covered in mirrors. despite this, both of them were practically entirely covered with absolutely no way for her students to be able to see themselves. as expected of the students at their university, the drawings were good, of course. actually, lisa had half a mind to take pictures and send them to jennie to get to chaeyoung (who of course, could have not been the culprit but lisa was willing to bet all of life's savings that she was), requesting that the students get extra credit for their diligence. but that would be like admitting defeat, something that lisa was not willing to do. she started inspecting the paintings even closer, trying to figure out the best way to go about getting the paint off. after some looking, she discovered an envelope taped to the mirror hidden in a painting of a guitar. lisa opened the package to find several sponges and a note.

 

 

_dear lisa,_

_firstly, don't worry, the paint is washable; i'm not as bad as you._

_if you use hot water and dish soap and it should scrub right off._

_secondly, my students would like to apologize to your class for any inconvenience they might cause_

_i'd like to apologize to your students as well because they shouldn't be punished for your disrespect_

_we also wish good luck to the junior class in their upcoming showcase_

 

_by the way, if you wanted my attention, you could've just said hi and not broken my stuff, but okay_

 

_have fun scrubbing the walls_

_perhaps you could use that time to thinking of an apology to my students for disrupting their learning_

 

_xx, park chaeyoung, the head of fine arts department (but you already knew that)_

 

oh, this meant war.

 

game on park chaeyoung.

 

**[ - ]**

 

jennie sighed, rubbing her temple. at this rate, she was going to have wrinkles before the end of the year.

 

"chaeyoung did _what_ now?" jisoo grimaced at her wife's tone, trying to formulate a response that would appease her.

 

"it's not really her fault," she started, ignoring the incredulous expression on jennie's face. "lisa just messed with her stuff again. chaeyoung was going to snap on her eventually, just no one expected for her to..." jisoo tried, trailing off.

 

"-make her class spray paint all over lisa's beloved studio," jennie finished, slouching back into her chair and cradling her head in her hands.

 

"yeah," jisoo agreed, resigned. as she did, her phone pinged, showing a new message from lisa. when she shared the picture of the note was attached with her wife, jennie sighed again, preemptively bracing for lisa's eventual revenge.

 

"one day," she huffed, dropping her fork on the table and listening to it clatter. "that's all i want. just one day to have a nice, relaxing, calm lunch with my amazing wife without all hell breaking loose," jennie complained, scrunching her nose.

 

"you think i'm amazing?" jisoo teased in hopes of raising her wife's spirits, lacing their fingers together on the table and causing jennie to roll her eyes.

 

"i married you, dummy. of course, i think you're amazing. but, we still need to solve this chaeyoung and lisa problem." this time, it was jisoo's turn to sigh.

 

"there's nothing we can try that we haven't already. they just hate each other, always have and always will," she whined before cutting herself off. "well, not exactly," she muttered under her breath but loud enough for jennie to catch it.

 

"i know that you know lisa better that i do, and i'm sure lisa has her reasons for doing whatever she does but it's gone too far, don't you think?" jennie asked, playing idly with jisoo's hand from across the table, who sighed for what seemed like the dozenth time that conversation.

 

"i agree that someone needs to do something but can't we just make seungwan solve this? she's better with people anyways," jisoo complained again, making jennie grin.

 

"we can't just force her to solve their problem for us. and anyways knowing her, she'll probably recruit sooyoung for help, which means yerim will end up helping which means their "solution" will probably end up either a dumb plan like locking them a room together or an even bigger problem for us later," jennie rebuked, more so trying to convince herself than jisoo to take action.

 

"but if we did that, we could go on more lunch dates," jisoo whined as she put on her biggest pout, causing more laughter from jennie as well as a hand in her face, covering jisoo's mouth from her line of sight.

 

"first, don't try that with me, we both know it won't work," jennie started, as jisoo raised both eyebrows challengingly. "second, your genius plan is to force our friends to solve our best friends' problem, even though we know that it probably will make things worse?" jennie asked, incredulously as she finally moved her hand, allowing jisoo to talk.

 

"precisely, although i'd add the fact that i'm proposing this plan to have more stress-free time to spend with my wonderfully gorgeous wife-" jisoo replied before her mouth was again covered by jennie's hand.

 

"okay, that's enough cheesiness for one day." jennie laughed, picking her fork back up.

 

"so you agree?" jisoo asked excitedly, practically bouncing up and down as jennie chewed on her salad, pretending to consider her options.

 

"let's see, have more lunches with my wife whom i adore, or get tons of wrinkles devising a plan that will likely fail?" jennie proposed before a gummy smile spread across her face.

 

"we're such good friends," jisoo muttered smiling as jennie laughed again.

 

"let's be honest, we're leaving them in seungwan's hands, it's probably for the better," jennie retorted, causing jisoo to point her fork in disagreement.

 

"but where there's seungwan, there's yerim and sooyoung and where there's yerim and sooyoung, there's chaos," jisoo countered, raising an eyebrow.

 

"yes, but chaos that's not our problem," jennie grinned, picking up her phone and beginning to type out a message as her wife continued eating happily, idly playing with her feet under the table.

 

**[ - ]**

  
  
  
"remind me again why i'm here?" kim yerim, resident music production professor complained, dragging her feet. despite that, she was still following behind park sooyoung, drama professor (although it seemed at that moment, that yerim could write a thesis in being dramatic with the way she was acting).

 

"why, you've got a hot date with saeron to get to?" sooyoung asked, her eyebrows raising sarcastically as they rounded the hall towards the dance department.

 

"well, yes, because i actually had the courage to ask my gorgeous, wonderful and talented girlfriend out, unlike _someone_ ," yerim taunted back as she stepped in front of sooyoung and tried to extend herself onto her tiptoes in a failed attempt to reach anywhere near sooyoung's line of sight. sooyoung, while blushing, glared and pushed yerim back down onto flattened feet.

 

"low blow kim," she muttered quietly, in an obvious attempt to drop the subject.

 

this, of course, only caused yerim to smirk more.

 

"oh yes, that reminds me! the only reason i'm here: to make fun of you because the only reason _you're_ here is because seungwan asked-" yerim was cut off by a hand covering her mouth and a dangerous glare in her face that would have caused others to cower in fear but only succeeded in making yerim laugh harder.

 

"don't try that with me, miss drama major," yerim continued, as soon as she successfully managed to separate sooyoung's hand from her face. "you don't scare me. i was there when you planned your lesson on death stares, remember?" sooyoung scrunched her nose at that and probably would have commented further if they hadn't reached the door to lisa's dance studio. yerim turned, facing sooyoung who already had her real game face on- she wasn't a drama professor for no reason. both girls nodded and turned to the doors, shoving them open.

 

 

**\- | -**

 

 

at another part of the campus, son seungwan was trying (rather unsuccessfully) to pry answers out of a slightly pissed off park chaeyoung. the university's resident vocal genius was nothing if not good with people but chaeyoung was increasingly reserved, and apparently didn't feel like talking today.

 

"so you got your entire class to spray paint all over lisa's dance studio, _why_ , again?" she asked for what she figured was the dozenth time as chaeyoung just continued fiddling with her guitar, fingering along to songs she'd never play out loud.

 

it was strange, her guitar playing, or lack thereof. no one had ever heard chaeyoung play her guitar, although she was rarely spotted without it nearby or even in her hands. her students and friends were always asking her to play songs but she never did, and no one knew why. same with her singing, she was often heard humming but no one had ever heard her actually sing. there was a rumor around campus that she had formerly been a trainee, set to debut before becoming a professor. most people believed it because she was obviously stunning, and no one doubted that she could dance well even though they had never seen it. but no one ever found out why she never sang. not even some of her closest friends, like seungwan, knew what had happened between her earlier life in australia and her becoming a professor. because of this, seungwan knew that she shouldn't push the lisa issue, that chaeyoung was responsible enough to solve her own problems on her own. but she also knew that she needed to distract her for their plan to work, and right now, this seemed like the best idea she had.

 

"because i was angry, okay? i get that it was wrong and i'm sorry. it won't happen again," chaeyoung muttered with a sense of finality, as seungwan expected. she got up from her place perched on one of the desks and paced over to stand in front of chaeyoung, still keeping herself in view of the window on the door. she was waiting for a signal from sooyoung, after all.

 

"i'm not here to scold you chaeng," seungwan started, causing chaeyoung to look up with an eyebrow raised, questioningly. "okay, maybe i am a little," seungwan admitted, making chaeyoung smile. "but you're an adult, you know what you did and you know that you have to deal with the consequences of your actions." at those words though, chaeyoung's smile disappeared and she angrily stood up.

 

"that's the thing, lisa never does! where are the consequences for _her_ actions? this has been happening for years and no one has ever done anything! jisoo always says that "lisa has her reasons" or some bullshit but i'm pretty fucking sick of her wrecking my stuff and no one giving a damn about it!"

 

seungwan gawked.

 

no one had ever heard park chaeyoung swear.

 

_ever._

 

before seungwan could even consider whether pushing an evidently _very_ angry chaeyoung into an enclosed and _locked_ space with the person she was mad at, she saw sooyoung and yerim with arms full of art supplies with a very confused lisa trailing behind them outside the door to the art department's supply closet.

 

well, it was now or never.

 

"hey chaeyoung? don't you need to get your supplies out for tomorrow's class?" she asked, moving subtly in front of the door to hide the movement in the hallway. chaeyoung looked up from the guitar she was picking up.

 

"i usually just set up during my prep period-" she started, only to be cut off by seungwan grabbing her arm and dragging out the door of her classroom.

 

"but you should get a head start, don't you think?" she asked as they exited chaeyoung's classroom.

 

"i guess?" chaeyoung questioned as she started to grab the handle of the supply closet.

 

"wait! i just forgot, i need to go plan my junior classes' lessons for tomorrow," seungwan suddenly exclaimed, letting go of chaeyoung's arm and running away, down the hall. "good luck!"

 

"good luck with what?" chaeyoung muttered as she finally opened the door to the supply closet and stepped inside.

 

once she did, she understood why she'd need luck.

 

sooyoung, yerim and lisa were stocking the shelves with random art supplies. as soon as she stepped in the closet, sooyoung and yerim locked eyes and dashed away, shutting and locking the door behind them.

 

"kim yerim and park sooyoung! get your 12-year-old asses back over here!" lisa yelled as she pulled at the door that refused to budge.

 

chaeyoung just sighed, leaning against a wall and expecting a long wait.

 

**[ - ]**

  


"it's not gonna work," chaeyoung finally said from her spot on the wall, opposite the door that lisa had been attempting to pick open for the last half hour.

 

"and how, could you, possibly, know that," lisa muttered back, pausing in between her words to stubbornly continue shoving the piece of wire she had found on a random shelf into the lock, to no avail.

 

"because that lock is full of hot glue. look," chaeyoung responded matter-of-factly, standing up and stepping towards lisa. she crouched in front of the door, motioning for lisa to bend down too. as soon as lisa hunched in line with chaeyoung's eyes, she could clearly see the hot glue inside the lock, preventing her from opening the door no matter how hard she would have tried. chaeyoung walked back to her spot on the wall, grabbing her guitar and sinking back to the ground. "yerim and sooyoung must have done this while you three were in here, probably while seungwan and i were talking."

 

"well, _i'm sorry_ i didn't have eyes on them at _all times_. and you couldn't have mentioned the glue earlier?" lisa muttered, half-to-herself, half-directed at the woman fiddling with the strings of her guitar again, causing chaeyoung to scoff.

 

"would you have listened to me if i did?" she challenged, looking up from her guitar for a split second before turning her gaze back down.

 

lisa considered it, tilting her head to the side as she thought. then, she looked away from chaeyoung, pacing around the aisles of the storage closet and continuing to sort the items sooyoung and yerim had dropped. they continued in silence for a while, determinedly looking everywhere but each other.

 

"why do you keep messing with me?" chaeyoung's voice was soft, so small that lisa barely heard it, even in the silent room. she looked away from the shelves she was inspecting and turned towards chaeyoung, who was staring intensely down at her guitar, her fingers sliding up and down the strings while no sound left the instrument.

 

"why do you carry your guitar around if you never actually play it?" lisa asked in an equally gentle tone as she sunk against the door, directly across from chaeyoung in the small closet. the other woman looked up from her fingers, her eyes connecting with lisa's.

 

"playing it brings up bad memories. and anyway, there's no judgment when you don't actually make any sound for anyone to hear," she shrugged, turning back down to her guitar.

 

"why are you scared of judgment?" lisa asked, causing chaeyoung to chuckle dryly.

 

"for the same reason as everyone else, i'm not confident enough in myself," she muttered offhandedly. "i'm sure you wouldn't understand."

 

"what do you mean?" lisa asked quickly, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion as she peered across the closet. chaeyoung abruptly looked up, a matching look of bewilderment on her face as well.

 

"look at yourself," chaeyoung sighed. "you're always dancing around everywhere and talking cockily to everyone. you're talented and you're comfortable showing it off. some of us aren't like that," she finished, her words trailing off and her daze again shifting downwards. lisa stood, stepping away from the door and sliding down next to chaeyoung.

 

"well, _i_ think you're crazy talented," lisa replied softly, playing with the piece of wire she still had between her fingers. "i mean, i've seen your drawings and i've heard you sing and you're probably better than most of the teachers here, although i'm not an expert or any-" she continued until she was cut off.

 

"when did you hear me singing?" chaeyoung asked, her gaze immediately moving from her guitar and searching lisa's eyes as a guilty smile crossed her face and she looked down shyly.

 

"to pull off as many pranks on you as i have, i've had to spend a lot of time in this building," she admitted, as chaeyoung's eyes opened wide. "i swear it wasn't creepy or anything!" lisa quickly defended, her hands shooting out in front of herself. "i've just tried to sneak into your room a few times when i thought you weren't there and you sing when you paint. i promise i wasn't like, stalking you or anything!" she finished, her expression downcast. chaeyoung smiled softly at lisa's sudden outburst before turning to face her.

 

"that just brings me back to the original question, why do you keep pranking me?" she questioned lightly. lisa refused to move, despite the fact that chaeyoung was now facing her. her eyes were still directed at her lap as she picked at her fingers.

 

"becauseikindamaybelikeyoualittle," she mumbled, her voice barely above a whisper.

 

"what?" chaeyoung asked, as she leaned toward a now blushing lisa who had somehow managed to look even more intensely down at her hands.

 

"becauseikindamaybelikeyoualittle," she repeated, barely louder and not at all less-mumbly than the first time. at this point, chaeyoung was more than a little confused and decided to put down her guitar and literally swivel around lisa so they were facing each other. lisa instantly turned bright red, extremely different from the suave and charismatic dancer that chaeyoung was used to.

 

"what?" she repeated, a teasing smile across her lips.

 

"because, i kinda, maybe like you a little," lisa articulated softly, her gaze dropping instantaneously. a bright laugh that left chaeyoung echoed across the closet as lisa looked up, her look of embarrassment quickly shifting to a look of confusion.

 

"i'm sorry, i shouldn't be laughing but are you serious?" chaeyoung apologized as she slowly stopped herself from laughing. when lisa didn't respond, chaeyoung quieted. "you mean you've literally pulled pranks on me for years just because you were too scared to ask me out?"

 

"hey!" lisa interjected, moving to face chaeyoung again. "asking people out is hard!" she pouted defensively, making chaeyoung cover her mouth in a (failed) attempt to stop herself from laughing again.

 

"you- you're teasing me now!" lisa muttered, her face bright red as she pointed a finger accusingly at chaeyoung, who was now laughing outright.

 

"would you stop laughing and help me get us out of here before i die of embarrassment?" an extremely flushed lisa asked as she quickly stood, again walking towards the door and very clearly away from the woman dying of laughter. chaeyoung just continued giggling, before grabbing a range of supplies to help her out after grabbing the piece of wire out of lisa's hands, who flushed and backed away from the door. it took awhile but eventually, chaeyoung got the door open. as lisa made a move to exit the closet, chaeyoung stopped her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her over to a shelf. she found a marker on one of the shelves and scrawled out several digits onto lisa's arm before carefully placing the marker back in its place, winking and returning to her classroom.

 

 _damn_ , that woman was going to be the death of her.

 

but at least lisa manoban was going to die happy.

 

**[ - ]**

  


something was different.

 

it had been days since the spray paint incident, but lisa hadn't retaliated yet. in fact, she hadn't even pranked anyone else. she had completely, utterly and totally calmed, with seemingly no intention of retribution.

 

which was actually more terrifying than if she _had_ done something.

 

all of her students recognized something unusual was going on, as jeon heejin whipped out her phone during a break in her dance rehearsals to text her girlfriend. lisa was in a strangely good mood and had allowed them a 30 minute longer break period than normal. really, lisa's mood had been strange all week. the day of the spray-paint incident, lisa had been furious while her students had confusedly scrubbed at mirrors. but just days after, their teacher was seemingly possessed and her personality flipped a completely 180°. she was much happier than normal and oddly enough, much less strict. normally, heejin, or any other student, would be harshly scolded for being on their phone during a break as it "distracted them from their learning" or whatever. but today, lisa wasn't scolding anyone. in fact, lisa herself was on her phone, which was probably the reason for their extended break.

 

no one had ever seen lisa on her phone other than to check the time or to change the music for more than a few seconds. even when she got important calls, she'd always prioritize her class above everything else, immediately notifying whoever poor soul was on the other end that she was busy and they would have to call her back later. more than a few students in the past had been sent out of the studio for being on their phones, as focus was something lisa valued above all else.

 

despite this though, lisa had somehow managed to completely forget her own rule, as she was currently as engrossed in her phone, as were the majority of her students who had noticed her distracted mood.

 

[heekie] 2:46 // okay, lisa's officially lost it

 

[hyunnie] 2:46 // wdym? wasn't she way off the deep end a while ago?

[hyunnie] 2:46 // i mean, she literally broke miss park's easel what, 3 times?

 

[heekie] 2:47 // hyunjin

 

[hyunnie] 2:47 // heejin

 

[heekie] 2:48 // i'm in the middle of dance class and texting you

[heekie] 2:48 // even _lisa's_ on her phone

 

[hyunnie] 2:48 // wait, isn't she super against phones

 

[heekie] 2:48 // …

 

[hyunnie] 2:49 // oh

[hyunnie] 2:49 // wait, that's why lisa's suddenly off the deep end?

[hyunnie] 2:49 // she probably just got a girlfriend or something, it's not a big deal

 

 

"what'd hyunjin say this time?" a voice called from behind heejin and her phone was promptly stolen away by a smirking, slightly taller brunette. kim jungeun, senior dance major and heejin's best friend (other than her girlfriend) was standing behind her, heejin's phone in hand as she read her last text conversation. heejin sighed, far too used to this then was probably normal.

 

"you know, one of these days, i'm gonna steal _your_ phone and see how _you_ like it," she muttered, causing jungeun to laugh.

 

"i'd like to see you try, shortie."

 

"you're barely taller than me!" cried an indignant heejin while pouting, only making jungeun grin as she continued reading. her grin disappeared and her eyebrows furrowed as she reached the end of the conversation and she quickly whipped out her own phone, unceremoniously dropping heejin's phone back in its owner's lap.

 

 

[kimberly] 2:50 // babe?

 

[jungsol] 2:50 // hey! what's up?

 

[kimberly] 2:51 // has miss park been acting weird lately?

 

[jungsol] 2:51 // maybe a little

[jungsol] 2:51 // she's been in a really good mood i guess?

[jungsol] 2:52 // it's probably because lisa hasn't pranked her lately

[jungsol] 2:52 // speaking of which, aren't you about to be in a ton of trouble for texting me?

 

[kimberly] 2:53 // it's cute that you're worried

[kimberly] 2:53 // but no, because lisa's also on her phone…

 

[jungsol] 2:54 // so they've both acting weird and on their phones a lot lately…

[jungsol] 2:54 // odd

 

[kimberly] 2:55 // wait, miss park's been on her phone a lot too?

 

[jungsol] 2:56 // yeah, she keeps smiling at it

[jungsol] 2:56 // i figure she's looking at pictures of her fish?

 

[kimberly] 2:57 // … really?

 

[jungsol] 2:58 // what? fish are cute :/

 

[kimberly] 3:00 // ...sometimes, i question why i talk to you

 

[jungsol] 3:01 // i'd like you to know that i'm currently pouting

 

[kimberly] 3:02 // i figured :)

[kimberly] 3:03 // okay, i've gotta go, talk to you later

[kimberly] 3:03 // ily

 

[jungsol] 3:04 // ily2!

 

 

"okay, something seriously strange is going on," jungeun muttered as she slipped her phone into heejin's hand, trading them so she could read hyunjin's words again.

 

"we've _really_ gotta start discussing boundaries-" heejin started before her mouth was covered by one of jungeun's hands, the other pointing at the text messages on the phone now in her grasp.

 

"what am i supposed to be getting from this?" heejin asked after rereading jinsol's words from the text messages for the -nth time, only succeeding in causing jungeun to sigh and point at specific lines to read.

 

"miss park has been acting weird and so has lisa, so what?" heejin asked, confusion still clear across her face. an exasperated kim jungeun sighed again and pointed again, even more forcefully this time.

 

"so miss park keeps smiling at her phone, and?" this time, jungeun literally grabbed heejin's face and turned it, directing her line of vision to lisa, who was still on her phone. a lovesick smile was present on her face, as she typed out a message. a look of realization washed over heejin's face, as jungeun rolled her eyes.

 

"you don't think-" heejin started, cutting herself off as lisa set down her phone. most of the students scattered at this, shoving phones into bags and pretending to stretch. jungeun just shrugged as she hid both of their phones in her bag.

 

"i mean, don't they say opposites attract? it's definitely suspicious, at least," she muttered as she re-tied her sneakers, eyeing lisa who had walked over to the speaker system, signaling that their break was over.

 

"i guess. oh, and don't think we're not going to discuss the fact that you're all of a sudden calling jinsol 'babe', now, when'd that happen?" heejin asked grinning, earning a flick on the forehead. jungeun probably would have retaliated more too, if lisa hadn't immediately told to her class to get ready.

 

 

[lisa] 2:45 // i'm boreddd

 

[chaeyoung] 2:46 // don't you have a class right now?

 

[lisa] 2:46 // yeah but they're taking a break

[lisa] 2:47 // and i'm boreddd

 

[chaeyoung] 2:47 // and what exactly am i supposed to do about that

 

[lisa] 2:48 // distract me from the horrifying reality that i teach children for a living

 

[chaeyoung] 2:49 // you chose this job lisa, what did you expect was going to happen?

 

[lisa] 2:50 // i expected more fun and less… children

 

[chaeyoung] 2:51 // you didn't expect _students_ when you decided to teach at a _university_?

 

[lisa] 2:52 // okay, now you're just making me sound like an idiot

 

[chaeyoung] 2:52 // actually, you were doing that just fine by yourself

 

[lisa] 2:53 // i thought we agreed that we were gonna be nice :(

 

[chaeyoung] 2:54 // i mean, you walked right into that one ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

[chaeyoung] 2:54 // anyways, i never agreed to anything

[chaeyoung] 2:55 // you just agreed not to break my stuff anymore

 

[lisa] 2:56 // being nice to me was implied :/

 

[chaeyoung] 2:57 // by who?

 

[lisa] 2:58 // me!

 

[chaeyoung] 2:59 // sure

[chaeyoung] 2:59 // go teach your class lisa

 

[lisa] 3:00 // but you're much more interesting :(

 

[chaeyoung] 3:00 // i sure hope so

[chaeyoung] 3:01 // i'll be here when you get done

 

[lisa] 3:02 // promise?

 

[chaeyoung] 3:02 // clingy, aren't we?

[chaeyoung] 3:03 // but of course i'll be here

[chaeyoung] 3:03 // now go work :)

 

 

**[ - ]**

  
  


"what the fuck-?" heejin half yelled (because her mouth was covered) as she was dragged by the wrist off the sidewalk where she was standing and into a side alley. she would've been worried that she was being kidnapped if that hand wasn't attached to jungeun, who sent her a glance, silently telling her to shut up.

 

"what the actual fuck?" heejin hissed into jungeun's ear. the girl in question had removed her hand because she was preoccupied by peeking (ridiculously) out from the corner of the alleyway. jungeun turned and placed a finger on her lips before swiveling back on her heel. at this, heejin sat back on her heels, crossing her arms over her chest. when jungeun spun again, she was met with a rather angry jeon heejin, practically fuming through her ears. jungeun immediately motioned her forward as she continued peeping from her hiding place at the cafe across the street.

 

"i just wanted coffee? when did this turn into spy kids?" heejin muttered under her breath, causing jungeun to shush her again. this time though, heejin followed her line of sight and instantly understood why jungeun was suddenly acting like a member of the secret service. in the cafe across the street from them, hidden in a corner booth but still visible, sat park chaeyoung and lisa manoban.

 

alone.

 

well, alone, _together._

 

the cafe was one of heejin's favorites because no one else knew about it and no one else really ever came. it was incredibly hole-in-the-wall, sandwiched between a shoe-repair shop and a random office building and a while away from the university. you wouldn't even know that it was there if you passed by because on the outside, it looked far more rundown as the buildings on either side of it. the only booth visible from the small window was the corner one, and if you weren't _looking_ for it, you'd probably miss that too. inside, it was tiny as well, and it could only hold a half-a-dozen or so people. but the woman who owned it was a family friend of heejin's so she and jungeun visited often after particularly grueling dance practices or in preparation for long nights of studying. today was the latter, as lisa had been going oddly easy on them as of late. heejin figured that no one else on campus even knew about the cafe's existence but apparently she was sorely mistaken.

 

jungeun turned to heejin, an eyebrow cocked. heejin just shrugged, turning away from the cafe to walk back down the alley. neither of them really wanted to get coffee with their professors, especially not ones that constantly (or apparently _used_ to) prank each other.

 

but still, _weird._

 

**[ - ]**

  


okay, something strange was definitely going on.

 

somehow, in the weeks after the spray-paint incident, park chaeyoung and lisa manoban had become, _friends_ , which was simultaneously extremely jarring and made complete sense.

 

kim hyunjin finished sketching her newest project for miss park's class and got up from her easel to grab the paints she needed to finish it from the supply closet. what she didn't expect was lisa manoban, leaning behind the door to their classroom. hyunjin would have gasped if lisa didn't instantly put a finger to her lips, silently shushing hyunjin from her place hidden in her doorway. hyunjin tilted her head in confusion before walking away, grabbing all her supplies from the closet before hiding her phone behind her easel, subtly peeking at lisa who was still concealed by the door.

 

 

[hyunnie] 10:32 // why is lisa in the hallway of the fine arts department

 

[heekie] 10:34 // i don't know? i don't think she has a class right now...

[heekie] 10:34 // she's not gonna pull another prank on miss park right?

[heekie] 10:35 // i really don't feel like scrubbing the mirrors again :(

 

[hyunnie] 10:36 // she's not holding anything though

[hyunnie] 10:36 // she's just standing behind the door

 

[hyunnie] 10:37 // wait

[hyunnie] 10:38 // huh?

 

[heekie] 10:38 // hyun?

[heekie] 10:39 // kim hyunjin?

[heekie] 10:41 // hello?

[heekie] 10:43 // HELLO?

[heekie] 10:45 // what the hell happened?

 

 

just as hyunjin was about to type a message to heejin, a box was wheeled in by a delivery man with a dolly. before chaeyoung could even ask what was in the box, he hurriedly walked out of the room, leaving a confused chaeyoung and a large box sitting in the center of the room. her entire class abandoned their pieces in favor of gathering around the mysterious box.

 

 

[hyunnie] 10:46 // a fish? i think?

[hyunnie] 10:46 // maybe a couple of fish? i don't really know

 

[heekie] 10:47 // what the fuck does that mean?

[heekie] 10:48 // HYUNJIN!

 

 

three fish in a large tank, was what the box actually held, chaeyoung's entire class gasping as she cut open the box. a note was taped to the tank's side which chaeyoung picked off as her students crowded the glass. two of the students placed it on a side table as the class instantly began fighting over names, jung jinsol leading the charge at the front of the classroom with a dry-erase marker. hyunjin, on the other hand, was in the back of the room as the only student who stayed at her easel. because of this, she was the only student to see lisa still standing in the doorway. she was gazing fondly at chaeyoung, who was at her desk, opening the letter she had received. as soon as chaeyoung began reading the note, however, lisa stepped away from the doorway and out of sight, leaving as quickly as she had appeared.

 

_weird._

 

 

[chaeng] 10:59 // three fish? really?

[chaeng] 11:00 //  i mean, i love them but you really shouldn't have

 

[lice] 11:00 // you said miss your fish back home so i got you more fish to keep you company

[lice] 11:01 // i would have brought your fish from australia too but i wanted it to be a surprise

 

[chaeng] 11:02 // i-

[chaeng] 11:03 // you realize that my class isn't going to get anything done for the rest of the day, right?

[chaeng] 11:04 // or was that your evil plan? so i would have time to talk to you?

 

[lice] 11:04 // no comment

 

[chaeng] 11:05 // you really are something else lalisa manoban

 

[lice] 11:06 // i'm gonna take that as a compliment

 

[chaeng] 11:07 // i've gotta go, they're trying to something with the tank

[chaeng] 11:09 // nevermind, it's okay, they're making a cute little castle

 

[chaeng] 11:11 // wait, what the hell?

[chaeng] 11:12 // is that a blowtorch!? where'd they even _get_ a blowtorch?!

 

[lice] 11:12 // go worry about the fish, i'll be here when you're finished :)

 

**\- | -**

 

 

jungeun's afternoon dance class also received a package a few days later. lisa was confused but less so than chaeyoung had been when the box was carried in by two students she recognized from chaeyoung's art class. her class had initially kept dancing, up until the second the box _meowed_. a mad dash to the box had then resulted, forcing lisa to clear the crowd from around the package. the meowing increased as a small pink nose poked itself out of one of the breathing holes that had been carefully arranged across the box's sides. her entire class was completely distracted at this point, far more interested in the mysterious meowing box than their choreography.

 

"sorry for interrupting your class!" was scrawled in neat cursive across the lid, accompanied by a small cartoon fish. just as lisa was about to open the box, smiling broadly, the creatures inside decided to escape _for_ her. two small kittens pushed the lid upwards with their heads, a loud chorus of "awws" signaling their entrance into the room. the larger of the two cats hopped out of the box and into heejin's arms, who immediately found the tag on its neck.

 

"luca!" she read as lisa scooped the other kitten (who was struggling a bit) out of the box.

 

"leo," lisa mumbled as she fumbled with his tag. her entire class immediately started cooing, quickly nabbing the kitten out of lisa's arms and becoming thoroughly preoccupied. well, everyone except for jungeun, who noticed lisa, slipping away from the crowd of students and grabbing out her phone.

 

 

[lice] 2:37 // two cats? really?

 

[chaeng] 2:38 // well, you mentioned your cats tigger and hunter and i couldn't leave you all lonely

[chaeng] 2:39 // and they're pretty effectively distracting the kids, aren't they?

 

[lice] 2:39 // so i have two cats now because you wanted to talk to me?

 

[chaeng] 2:40 // i'm not hearing any complaints from you

[chaeng] 2:41 // i'm sorry i couldn't deliver them in person though, kinda swamped right now

[chaeng] 2:42 // apparently, when your entire class breaks university policy, they all have to write papers that i have to grade

 

[lice] 2:43 // well then, maybe _someone_ shouldn't have made them graffiti my room?

 

[chaeng] 2:44 // then maybe _someone_ shouldn't have broken my easel?

 

[lice] 2:45 // i've gotta go, luca's trying to eat my speaker chords

[lice] 2:45 // or is that leo?

[lice] 2:46 // either way, for the record, i didn't break your easel, i just loosened its screws

 

[chaeng] 2:47 // sure

 

[lice] 2:48 // i didn't!

 

[chaeng] 2:49 // bye lisa, talk to you later

 

[lice] 2:50 // ♡

 

 

**[ - ]**

  


something was different indeed.

 

in fact, all of the other staff members had also acknowledged the fact that something had changed.

 

"okay, we're getting the band back together!" yerim roared as she slammed open the doors to sooyoung's classroom that was thankfully empty of students. most people would have been shocked by the loud eruption of noise, but sooyoung was sadly used to yerim's antics and just continued to write her lesson plan for the day on her whiteboard. seungwan, who was sitting in the chair behind sooyoung's desk, was unfortunately _also_ used to this, taking the opportunity to slowly hit her head on the table.

 

"it's a monday. we were never a band, i just got up and you're too loud," seungwan groaned into the desk. yerim just pouted, walking into the room and plopping down on the desk next to seungwan.

 

"why are you so grumpy?" she asked, poking seungwan's nose. "were you two up late last night or something?"

 

instead of negation like she was expecting, she was met with silence, and two blushing faces.

 

"you were up late last night!" yerim shrieked, hopping off the desk and causing the other two women to cover their ears and blush further. "finally! well, no time to deal with your shenanigans because i need the detective trio back again!" she called as she grabbed seungwan's wrist and began dragging her towards the door.

 

"we were never called that. we also don't agree to be called that," sooyoung groaned, putting down her eraser and crossing her arms over her chest.

 

"just follow me, okay?" yerim muttered, grabbing sooyoung's wrist as well and eventually dragging both women out of the classroom and down a series of hallways until they were in front of a window.

 

"look, what do you see?" she asked, pointing out the window at the scenery below. when she turned back, she was met with a bored-looking seungwan and an outright frowning sooyoung.

 

"a parking lot," sooyoung deadpanned, causing yerim to huff.

 

"yes, i know that but what's _in_ the parking lot?" she tried again, this time pointing more specifically.

 

"my van, your vespa, sooyoung's car, jennie and jisoo's beloved bmw and lisa's bike?" seungwan tried helpfully.

 

"and…" yerim tried even further, her arms swinging wildly in a not-at-all-helpful attempt at getting them to understand her point.

 

"that's it." sooyoung deadpanned, obviously _extremely_ done with the situation.

 

"exactly!" yerim yelled, her smile widening as she looked at the other two women expectantly, who both just blinked back at her.

 

"yerim, what the fuck?" sooyoung muttered after a pause, bending over to resting her head on the back of seungwan's shoulder, as yerim scrunched her nose.

 

"god, you guys are gross," she muttered, making them both smile. "and _slow_ , just look! chaeyoung's car is missing."

 

"so?" seungwan asked, now equally exhausted with the situation. yerim just huffed again before slowly and patronizingly continuing.

 

"how did she get here if her car is missing and the only vehicles left are yours, lisa's jennie's and mine?"

 

"oh," came seungwan's rather underwhelming response to yerim's incredible discovery.

 

"ugh, i hate you guys. i'm going to call saeron," she muttered defeatedly, trudging down the hall as the new couple giggled in her wake.

 

**[ - ]**

  


"you're late," jennie's voice called from inside chaeyoung's darkened classroom, causing her to shriek.

 

in her defense, what would _you_ do if a voice called out for you in the dark at 7 am?

 

"geez jennie! you don't have to give a girl a heart attack first thing in the morning!" chaeyoung whisper-yelled as she searched the walls for the light switch as jennie grinned, perched on her desk. it probably should have been alarming, how happy jennie looked at the prospect of scaring her best friend.

 

oh well.

 

"that doesn't change the fact that you're late chae," jennie called as she hopped smoothly off the desk, her eyes narrowing, initially as she adjusted to the light when chaeyoung flipped it on but again when she noticed what chaeyoung was wearing.

 

"what's this?" she questioned as she tugged at the sleeve of the leather jacket that she had never seen before.

 

"... nothing? just something i bought recently," chaeyoung tried as she deftly stepped around jennie, taking off the jacket in question and hanging it over the back of her chair in an attempt to move jennie's attention off of it, which turned out to be a huge mistake.

 

"what's that?" jennie gasped at the flannel draped over her best friend's shoulders, and the muscle tee under it with that she was absolutely certain chaeyoung didn't own. it wasn't that chaeyoung never wore flannels (she _was_ gay so that was a given) but more so that she would never pair _that_ outfit together, preferring to dress much more professionally at her job (also, she was jennie had taught her better than to dress like _that_ ). not to mention the logo on the shirt was one jennie didn't recognize and she had been through chaeyoung's entire closet a number of times (because one of ~~the~~ ~~unfortunate results~~ _benefits_ of being jennie kim's best friend was the free-of-charge, and often unsolicited,  fashion advice and that _definitely_ would have gotten thrown out).

 

so to say jennie was confused would be an extreme understatement.

 

but before she could start an interrogation, she was quickly ushered out of the room because chaeyoung 'needed to begin prepping for her next class'. as she was lead out of the room though, she didn't fail to take note of the absence of car keys in their cup on chaeyoung's desk, or the new ring adorning her pointer finger.

 

_weird._

 

**\- | -**

 

 

lisa manoban was also, strangely enough, late to her dance studio.

 

"yo manoban. you're late," kim jisoo called from the floor of lisa's precious studio not turning from the large screen on the back wall that was supposed to be for monitoring choreography but jisoo so often hijacked to watch her favorite cartoons. when she did turn though, she was taken aback by the absence of lisa's beloved leather jacket from her shoulders. she _always_ wore that thing, especially when she rode her bike which he obviously had (as evidenced by the helmet under her shoulder).

 

wait a second.

 

_helmets?_

 

"lisa. what's this?" jisoo called, her gaze questioning as she finally got up from the blanket pile on the floor that she routinely created between when jennie's morning classes began and when her's and lisa's afternoon sessions started. she stalked toward the taller girl and attempted to snatch one of the two helmets from under lisa's arms, who promptly used her height to her advantage and lifted them over jisoo's head.

 

"respect your elders, you giraffe!" jisoo called as she hopped on top of lisa's back, causing them both to tumble, laughing, into the blankets on the floor. they stayed there for a while, giggling until their attention was focused solely on the movie jisoo had been watching before lisa had appeared.

 

the helmets were forgotten until later, when jennie offhandedly mentioned something about chaeyoung on their drive home, and jisoo remembered the new ring she had spotted on lisa's pointer finger (which had _hurt_ to get knocked on the head by when she got tackled) and connected her wife's description of her shirt to the logo of dance company that lisa had attended back in thailand.

 

  
well.

 

 

_fuck._

 

 

 

[human gucci] has created a group chat

 

[human gucci] has added [chichu], [trouble 1], [trouble 2] and [in charge of the trouble twins]

 

[human gucci] has named the group chat: what the fuck is going on between lisa and chaeyoung

 

[jennie] 10:27 // okay, we need to get to the bottom of this

 

[human guuci] 10:29 // sooyoung i see you typing

[human gucci] 10:29 // if you make a bottom joke about me, i will cut out your tongue

 

[trouble 1] 10:31 // geez, so violent

 

[chichu] 10: 32 // i know, don't you love it?

 

[trouble 2] 10:34 // eww jisoo, keep your kinky shit off my phone

 

[in charge of the trouble twins] 10:35 // yerim

 

[trouble 2] 10:36 // seungwan

 

[in charge of the trouble twins] 10:37 // yerim

 

[human gucci] 10:37 // CAN WE FOCUS ON THE CHAEYOUNG AND LISA THING?

 

[trouble 1] 10: 38 // well yerim and i have a plan…

 

[mc chu] 10:39 // oh god no

 

[trouble 2] 10:40 // oh god yes

 

 

**[ - ]**

  
  


at this point, everyone was in agreement. there was absolutely no way that park chaeyoung and lisa manoban were not dating.

 

it was just that no one had any proof.

 

until, one day, they did.

  


it was almost comedic how yerim, sooyoung and seungwan tiptoed out into the hallway, heading towards chaeyoung's room as if they were in some sort of spy thriller. more comedic though, was the sound of jennie's heels as she sauntered behind them, jisoo scowling, but in tow.

 

"shh! why do you walk so ridiculously loud!" sooyoung scolded as she poked her head from around the corner facing the classroom in question. jennie just rolled her eyes.

 

"this is a school, there's always some noise. and anyway, if anyone's being ridiculous, it's you three, scooby doo's mystery gang reincarnated," she muttered.

 

"in all fairness, the mystery gang has five members, so if we're in it, you guys are too," yerim pointed out, her fingers directed at a frowning jisoo and jennie.

 

"fine. but we get to be daphne and fred, and you're obviously scooby," jisoo relented, causing seungwan to groan. yeri just shrugged.

 

"no way! if anyone's daphne, it's me!" sooyoung whisper-yelled. just before jisoo opened her mouth to retort though, jennie covered it.

 

"sorry babe," jennie murmured apologetically, quieting her wife and the group surrounding her by pointing her chin at the supply closet's open door. "but did anyone else see that?"

 

 

**\- | -**

 

_approximately ten minutes earlier_

 

"okay, we need to stop. i have actual work to do, remember?" chaeyoung whispered from her seat on top of her desk as she and lisa broke apart from another kiss.  
  
"that's doesn't seem to be stopping you from kissing me back," lisa teased before leaning in again. a blush graced chaeyoung's face as she finally placed a hand in front of lisa's lips to stop her.  
  
"i have to get supplies for my students now, we can keep kissing later," chaeyoung replied, more so in an attempt to convince herself than lisa, who immediately began pouting, her lower lip jutting out as she tilted her head to the side. a small smile broke across chaeyoung's face as she quickly moved her hand from in front of lisa's face to in front of her own, covering her eyes.  
  
"nope. don't puppy dog eye me,  i'm not falling for that. i'm going to get my stuff now," chaeyoung called as she hopped off her desk and backed out of the room, her hand still over her eyes until she turned around and walked out of sight.

 

if her hand wasn't over her eyes, chaeyoung might have seen the devilish smirk cross lisa's face. as it happens though, she didn't and when she walked into her storage closet, she was surprised by a pair of arms quickly snaking around her waist from behind her as lisa planted a line of kisses down the base of her neck. chaeyoung somehow blushed even harder as she turned to lightly smack lisa in the arm. she walked across the closet, continuing to grab supplies and refusing to look at lisa.

 

"stop pouting," she called while facing a shelf of paints, only succeeding in making lisa pout further.

 

"how do you know i'm pouting? you're not even looking at me," lisa whined, scrunching her face and abandoning her place leaning against the shelves to walk towards chaeyoung, re-attaching herself to her waist.

 

"you're always pouting," chaeyoung teased as she selected the colors she needed, still attempting to ignore the trail of feather-like kisses that lisa was placing down her shoulder.

 

"i only pout when you're not here, _because_ you're not here," lisa muttered in between kisses. chaeyoung just rolled her eyes, scoffing fondly but also pushing her away.

 

"you just don't like it when i'm not devoting all of my attention to you," she sighed as she grabbed a set of brushes and placing them into a bag. lisa just grabbed the loops of chaeyoung's jeans and pulled, forcing chaeyoung to drop the bag at her feet and scoot towards her, laughing.

 

"i mean, can you blame me?" she smirked, as chaeyoung flushed and ducked her head. "you're a goddess." at the compliment, chaeyoung attempted to shy away from lisa but lisa was undeterred, as she continued to chase chaeyoung's cheek.

 

because she kept leaning away, chaeyoung was forced to lean her front on lisa and effectively pin her back to the wall of the closet and whose hands were wrapped around chaeyoung's waist to prevent them from falling. both women were giggling, and red-faced because of it.

 

it was at that extremely inconvenient moment, when lisa and chaeyoung were in a rather compromising position, that yerim and sooyoung decided to bust the door of the storage closet open, seungwan, jennie and jisoo on their heels.

 

"ha! i knew it!" yerim shrieked as lisa and chaeyoung very quickly broke apart, blushing and avoiding eye-contact both with yerim and each other.

 

**\- | -**

 

half-an-hour and a lot of explaining and teasing later, the group was back in chaeyoung's classroom as she finally began prepping for her class.

 

"you're kidding me?" asked jisoo for what was probably the dozenth time that day, as lisa slapped her arm for what was definitely at least the dozenth (if not more) time in the last ten minutes. chaeyoung just smiled softly and shook her head, causing jisoo, yerim and sooyoung to laugh even harder. jennie and seungwan attempted to scold their friends, barely managing to hold back laughter themselves.

 

"okay, we've established that i suck at flirting," lisa muttered crankily as she crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "don't you people have careers to get back to?"

 

"you don't just suck at flirting, you have the same tactics as a twelve-year-old boy!" yerim shrieked, causing another wave of laughter from the other women in the room. even chaeyoung had to stifle a laugh, causing lisa to gape at her.

 

"i'm sorry but she's not wrong babe," chaeyoung shrugged, before continuing to set up her classroom.

 

"babe?" jennie gasped in mock surprise, causing lisa to hurriedly get up off the desk she was sitting on.

 

"okay. that's enough dissecting my relationship. out," she grumbled as she ushered the laughing five woman out of the room.

 

"make sure none of your students catch you making out in there!" jisoo called down the hallway, as the group around her snickered and lisa glared, blushing.

 

"like you and jennie aren't worse!" lisa shouted back before turning away from the door to face a grinning chaeyoung. "now, where were we?"

 

chaeyoung didn't finish setting up her classroom for a while.

 

**[ - ]**

  


_creak._

 

"what?"

 

_bang._

 

"babe?"

 

it had been years, (actually exactly seven years to the day) since park chaeyoung's easel had last been loosened, so long so that she didn't even have the screwdriver to fix in her desk anymore. her class of entirely new students bewildered, as they had never seen anything like this before.

 

chaeyoung was equally confused. lisa hadn't completely _stopped_ pranking her per se, but the pranks she pulled now were somewhat nicer, often involving replacing cans of paint with fake snakes (although she also always left snacks in the container too) or surprising her with other (completely unnecessary but not unwelcome) treats or gifts.

 

 _those_ were things that lisa did now, not breaking her easel (and her new one at that, which had been her gift for their fifth anniversary). as chaeyoung sighed, curiously scratched her head and got up to find a screwdriver, a small laugh echoed from the hallway. lisa was leaning against in the doorway and as always, a tiny smirk was across her face.

 

lisa, of course, chaeyoung's class recognized. in fact, rare was the day that their class wasn't ended a few minutes early by lisa in the hallway, a bag of takeout in her hand. today though, she was early and without food. actually, apart from the laughter, she looked strangely different, more nervous than usual as she wrung her hands together in a way that was completely uncharacteristic of the normally charismatic dance instructor. the class paid it little attention and eventually left, excused by a very confused chaeyoung who was still looking for a screwdriver.

 

"babe, what was that?" she asked lisa, who was still in the doorway of the classroom, rocking back and forth on her heels.

 

"nothing! " lisa squeaked, her hands wringing again. chaeyoung raised an eyebrow as she amusedly looked at her girlfriend of seven years who haven't gotten any better at lying than she had been that day in the supply closet. she leaned on the frame of her desk as she gazed at lisa, who was whispering something to herself. chaeyoung recognized it from moments where lisa was _really_ nervous, like when she had met chaeyoung's parents and sister for the first time, although she had no idea what could possibly be worrying her now.

 

"what's wrong?" chaeyoung immediately asked, her tone gentle as she stepped toward her girlfriend.

 

"i know it was a terrible idea, i mean i got it from yerim and sooyoung so, duh,  but seulgi thought it'd be cute, in a sentimental-ish way and jisoo just kinda made a weird face when i told her but then she kept teasing me so i got distracted- _surprising, i know_ -and i sorta forgot what jisoo told me to do and i totally don't remember what she told me to wear and-" her musings were cut off by a small kiss from chaeyoung, who cupped lisa's face in her hands before leaning back, puzzled. lisa's hands, which had previously been waving wildly as she rambled on, automatically wrapped around chaeyoung's waist as if by some magnetic force.

 

"lisa. baby. breathe," chaeyoung articulated carefully as her girlfriend diligently took a deep breath. "okay, let's try this again. what's wrong?" she asked softly, her hands moving from lisa's face to lace behind her neck. in their seven years together, she had never seen lisa like this: this unnerved, this stressed. lisa though, immediately returned to pacing, gesticulating wild as she muttered words to herself under her breath. eventually, after she was close to certain that lisa was going to create a dent in her floor, chaeyoung grabbed her girlfriend's wrists and dragged her closer to herself. despite the panicked state lisa was in, a deep kiss from chaeyoung seemed to quell the rising storm.

 

"seriously babe," chaeyoung murmured as soon as they broke apart, her eyebrows knit together and her lips pursed in worry. "what's wrong?" a small smile breaking across chaeyoung's face as she watched her girlfriend's eyes close seriously at her words. when she opened them again, lisa seemed calmer, if only by a small amount. she took another deep breath before smiling lovingly at a very confused chaeyoung, who despite herself, automatically reciprocated.

 

"park chaeyoung, you're quite possibly the best person i've ever met in my life. you make my smile every day and i'm super fucking in love with you," lisa started softly, staring at her girlfriend, who was blushing, in her arms. "and i'd really like it if you let me annoy you forever," she continued, reaching for something in her pocket.

 

"will you marry me?"

 

the question came out muffled as she was attacked by a hug from a hysterically laughing chaeyoung who quickly ran away, behind her desk. she was still laughing as she did, leaving a very confused lisa alone and holding a ring box. chaeyoung reached into the drawers of her desk and pulled out a box of her own, tilting the lid open to reveal a ring.

 

"jennie and i picked it out last week when i said i was visiting alice! which i was, we just went ring shopping," she managed to get out in between bouts of hysterical laughter. at this point, lisa was bent over laughing as well, tears welling in her eyes as she turned bright red.

 

"jisoo, seulgi and i did too when i said i had to work late in the studio!" she exclaimed, causing both women to laugh even harder.

 

"wait," chaeyoung called as she walked back to the other side of the desk, to her now probable fiancé. "if all of our friends knew about your plan-" she was cut off by a large confetti cannon spewing bits of colored paper all over the floor of her classroom from its doorway. their friends all processed in, proud looks on their faces and a cake exclaiming _congratulations on your engagement, you slowpokes_ in yellow and blue frosting.

 

**\- | -**

 

"you know, neither of them ever actually said _yes,_ " jisoo mused later that day, as the group continued to devour the cake.

 

"wait, really?" jennie giggled, reaching over to wipe the crumbs off of her lips.

 

"yeah, i mean, they were still laughing when _someone_ set off the confetti early," sooyoung murmured, directing a pointed glare at yerim who threw her hands up in defense.

 

"we were about to be discovered! i had to do something!" she exclaimed, a miniature argument beginning in one corner of the circle, one that both of their girlfriends, and the rest of the group, successfully managed to ignore.

 

"i kinda thought it was implied when she put the ring on but okay," lisa shrugged, turning to the woman sitting on her lap. "park chaeyoung, do you want to marry me?" lisa asked, her smile still as enamored as the day they met and the day in the supply closet.

 

"no." chaeyoung tried to stay composed but her own matching smile betrayed her, breaking across her face in a way that only lisa was capable of creating. "shut up, of course, you idiot," she finished fondly, planting a kiss on her now _official_ fiancé.

 

"eww, pda," seulgi called as she got up from the floor where the group had decided to sit. she flicked lisa on the forehead, breaking the couple apart, as she grabbed more drinks from the cooler that she had lugged (rather unhappily) up the stairs.

 

 

_"you were supposed to do this outside so we could have a nice picnic," seulgi had complained._

 

 _"why didn't you have_ _a nice picnic when you proposed to joohyun?" lisa had retorted. "i was stressed enough, and how was i supposed to know you guys would be following me?"_

 

 

"hey, i'm allowed to kiss my fiancé as much as i want!" lisa complained as she attempted to trip seulgi on her way back beside joohyun in the circle. "we literally _just_ got engaged."

 

"just because you guys are engaged doesn't mean you get a pass!"

 

"but-"

 

lisa's retort was cut short by a sensual kiss from chaeyoung, immediately silencing lisa, who sat up, attentively gazing at her fiancé. chaeyoung though, just turned to the piece of cake on her plate, causing the entire group to laugh.

 

"whipped since day one, huh limario?" jisoo taunted, earning a glare from lisa and a high-five from seulgi.

 

"oh, it's not like jennie was banned from the drama department for distracting you during finals last year or anything," chaeyoung challenged casually, as yerim and sooyoung (who had stopped arguing, due mostly to either getting distracted by the current conversation or the efforts of saeron and seungwan) cheered, making rather fratboy-ish airhorn noises.

 

"touché," jisoo grinned, eyes sparkling, as chaeyoung leaned back into her fiancé and continued to eat as if nothing happened.

 

"lisa, if i wasn't madly in love with my wife, i'd be stealing yours," jennie mused, earning her glare from the dance instructor (and her wife) but laughter from the rest of her friends, including chaeyoung.

 

"don't worry jen, you'll always be first wifey," chaeyoung consoled, getting up from lisa's lap and planting kiss on the cheek of the giggling woman in question before selecting another piece of cake and sitting back down in her pouting fiancé's lap. the pout though, immediately disappeared with a simple smile from the love of her life.

 

"whipped," yerim muttered under her breath at the couple from her place in saeron's embrace.

 

lisa just gazed over at the woman in her arms. there were crumbs from the cake on her lips and her tongue was slightly stained from the frosting. she was laughing too loudly, her head tossed back and resting on lisa's shoulder with crinkles in her eyes.

 

she was absolutely perfect.

 

**_game over park chaeyoung, you win._ **

 

well, i guess lisa wins too.

after all, she does get the girl.

 

_it just took her seven years._

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> my longest piece yet! i've actually been working on this one for a while but i wanted to publish it on chaeyoung's 7th anniversary and chaelisa day™ (may 7th, happy seven years to her and to them!) i've wanted to write a teacher au for a long time and i really love their dynamic so this was lots of fun to write! i also promised a less angsty-chaelisa au so i added a lot of cute fluff to this one :)
> 
> as a side note, i wrote this completely out of order and some of it in a social media!au style, so i hope this made sense. i hope you guys also like that i included some of my loona babies, i love them a lot!
> 
> as always, i hope you all enjoyed and keep streaming ktl! (and watch récord's rosie fancams from coachella for clear skin because damn she's a woman™)


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